Cost of carry
The full cost of owning an asset until settlement: money, storage and insurance, less any income the asset pays.
How to read the number
It explains why a distant series usually costs more than a near one: somebody has to fund and keep the asset until then, and that work is priced in.
When the metric lies
For a commodity in short supply the benefit of physical ownership outweighs the outlay and the carry turns negative. The far contract ends up cheaper than the near one although storage still costs money.
Also known as: carrying cost